Today begins a two week long campaign by the Catholic Church focusing on the issue of religious freedom in the United States. Called Fortnight for Freedom, the next two weeks will be filled with study and prayer remembering Christians who have been persecuted for their faith. It ends on July 4.

Please pray for our nation and its leaders to honor our First Amendment right of freedom of religion. Right now the Catholic Church is in the hot seat. They are but the first if we allow the government to trample on our God-given unalienable rights.

Remember the words of Martin Niemoeller: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Here is a prayer that is included in some of the information about F4F. I thought it was beautiful.

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God Our Creator,

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us— this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”